Gabriel Fernandez.Photo: Source: Gabriel’s Justice/Facebook
A California mother who pleaded guilty to the torture and beating death of her 8-year-old sonGabriel Fernandezhas filed a petition, asking to be resentenced.
Pearl Fernandez, who was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 2018, alleges she could not currently be convicted of first or second-degree murder because of changes to California’s penal code,ABC7reports.
A hearing is scheduled for June 1,Associated Pressreports.
“I think that she feels that somehow maybe, you know, the special circumstance will be dismissed or maybe she’ll have a chance that the D.A. will agree with the petition,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami said,CBS2reports.
Pearl Fernandez.Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty
The boy was found naked, with a cracked skull, shattered ribs, severe burns andBB pellets buried in his bodyat his family’s home in Palmdale on May 22, 2013. He was declared brain dead and taken off life support two days later.
Isauro Aguirre.Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty
The day he was reported unresponsive, his mother and Aguirre beat him fiercely after he didn’t clean up his toys,theLos Angeles Timesreported.Gabriel’solder brother testifiedthat Gabriel was forced to eat cat feces and cat litter and prosecutors said he “slept bound and gagged inside a small cabinet.”
The brother also testified, “My mom and her boyfriend made Gabriel eat spoiled stuff or expired stuff.”
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Brian Knappenberger, The director ofNetflix’s six-part docuseries,The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, told PEOPLE, “What we do know is that he called him gay when he was beating him.”
Aguirre was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder in 2018. He is on San Quentin’s Death Row.
A few months later, Fernandez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with the special circumstance allegation of murder involving torture, CBS2 reports.
source: people.com
